User:Alastair Haines/Generic antecedents

Generic antecedents are representatives of classes of people, indicated by a reference in ordinary language (most often a pronoun), where gender is typically unknown or irrelevant. They are particularly common in abstract, theoretical or strategic discourse.

• Readers of Wikipedia ...
• The customer in this market ...
• A typical teenager ...
• Most sufferers of Jane Doe syndrome ...
• Each of our active combatants ...

Frequently, discussion of a theory or strategy involving a generic antecedent requires reference to individuals. Appropriate style for doing this in the English language became controversial in about the 1970s.

Grammatical analysis

Pronouns

Pronouns are essentially words that replace nouns. They exist in many languages. The person, thing, phrase, clause or idea they replace is called the antecedent.

• Example: The sun and the moon influence life on Earth. They ...

In the example, they is a pronoun, the sun and the moon are its antecedent. Speakers find pronouns useful as a kind of abbreviation when the antecedent is obvious to a hearer from context.

Personal pronouns

English has many different kinds of pronouns. The most common pronouns in English are the personal pronouns.

• Personal pronouns: I, you, she, he, it, we, they

These are so common because nearly all verbs require an explicit subject in English. The range of different pronouns helps make it clear to the hearer exactly what the antecedent is.

Number

I, she, he and it refer to only one person or thing [meaning in usage] and are called singular [label in grammar]; we refers to more than one person and is called plural. Sometimes you is singular, other times it is plural. This article is about the meaning in various usages of they. The description of a pronoun as either singular or plural is called its grammatical number.

Person

Personal pronouns in many languages can also be described according to whether they refer to the speaker (first person), the listener (second person) or to a third person or thing. I and we are first-person personal pronouns, you is the second-person personal pronoun, and she, he, it and they are all third-person personal pronouns. The description of a pronoun as first, second or third person is called its grammatical person. They is always a third-person, personal pronoun.

Case

English allows speakers to communicate to the hearer even more information than simply the person (1st, 2nd or 3rd) of an antecedent and the number (singular or plural).

• Oblique personal pronouns: me, my, your, her, hers, him, his, its, us, our, them, their

When the antecedent is not the subject of a sentence, its alternative function [meaning in usage] is marked by a change of pronoun which is called a change of grammatical case [label in grammar]. Essentially English has two cases other than the subject case – the object case and the possessive case. Cases other than the subject case are called oblique cases.

• Example: You gave me her book.

You is subject case, me is object case, and her is posessive case. So when we think about how they is used in English, we also need to consider them and their.

Gender

English, like most languages, does not have distinct forms to communicate the gender of first and second persons. The genders of speaker and hearer are normally obvious, unambiguous or irrelevant when they are communicating. However, gender distinctions in the third person can be very helpful.

• Example: My sister and brother disagree. She likes it, but he doesn't.

In contrast to the singular, English does not provide options in third-person, personal pronouns to distinguish gender in the plural.

• Example: My sisters and brothers disagree. The sisters like it, but the brothers don't.

Summary

		Singular			Plural
		Subject	Object	Possessive	Subject	Object	Possessive
First		I	me	my	we	us	our
Second		you	you	your	you	you	your
Third	Feminine	she	her	her	they	them	their
	Masculine	he	him	his
	Impersonal	it	it	its

Practical issue

The issue addressed by this article is based on a contrast in English – the awkwardness of making gender distinctions in the plural and the awkwardness of avoiding them in the singular. Speakers of languages use words both to make distinctions, but also to generalize.

• Example of distinction: My mother thinks ..., but my father says ....
• Example of generalization: My parents believe ....

What has become controversial among users of English can be seen from the following examples.

• All people get hungry, so they eat. OK (All people is plural.)
• All people get hungry, so she eats. NOT OK (It does not mean the same thing as the first sentence, because she is singular.)
• Each one gets thirsty, so they drink. OK (Each one thought of as many similar people – plural.)
• Each one gets thirsty, so she drinks. OK (Each one thought of one at a time – singular.)
• When a person is tired, she sleeps. Traditionally OK, but controversial now.
• When a person is tired, it sleeps. NOT OK (It does not mean the same thing as the previous sentence, because it is impersonal.)

Traditional solution

Many languages share the same issue with English. The universal traditional solution is based on the fact that the context is always the same – the antecedent is a representative individual of a class, whose gender is unknown or irrelevant. The traditional solution has been to use either feminine or masculine forms of singular pronouns in what is called generic usage. The context makes the generic intent of the usage clear in communication.

• Example: An ambitious academic will publish as soon as she can.

Unless there is reason to believe the speaker thinks ambitious academics are always female, the use of she in this sentence must be interpreted as a generic use.

Modern problem

What has led to the current controversy, however, is the overlap of generic use with gender role stereotyping.

• A nurse should ensure she gets adequate rest.
• A police officer should maintain his fitness.
• A dancer should watch her diet carefully.
• A boss should treat his staff well.

In these examples, there is very good reason to suppose that the speaker does indeed believe that all nurses are female, or that all bosses are male.

Modern solutions

If a speaker is ideologically opposed to gender role stereotyping, he can use one of the following strategies.

• A boss should treat her staff well. (Generic use of the pronoun of opposite gender.)
• Bosses should treat their staff well. (Rephrasing the sentence.)
• A boss should treat their staff well. (Controversial use of they.)

There is both historical precedent for the third option, as well as popular contemporary usage. However, there are both historical and contemporary style guides that discourage this option. There are also many contexts in which it leads to ambiguities, that are of more significance than signalling ideological disapproval of gender role stereotyping.

• Would you like tea or coffee? Yes. Which one?
• Would you like tea or coffee? Tea, please.
• Did my parents leave a message? Yes they did. Which one?
• Did my parents leave a message? Yes, your mother called.

Other alternatives

Options other than generic pronouns, rephrasing in the plural, or using they can be well suited to some contexts, but be problematic in others.

• A boss should treat her or his staff well. (Issues: cumbersome if overused, have to place genders in an order.)
• If (s)he does, it is good. (Issue: written option only.)
• Thon will be happy and so will they. (Issue: none of the invented pronouns – thon, xe, and many others – have been accepted into the language.)

Extreme opinions

Some modern prescriptivists argue from the valid use of they in certain contexts to making it mandatory in all. Other prescritivists argue ideologically that generic he should be proscribed. Both these points of view have found many followers; however, they do not accurately describe the usage or rationale of the wide range of options common in contemporary English.